Winston Churchill stood a few feet away from the TARDIS, his soldiers at aim as the Doctor carefully stepped out, Minerva right after him. The Doctor reached back inside for a certain ginger, "Amy..." he pulled her out, "Winston Churchill."
"Doctor? Is it you?" Churchill looked from him to the woman that hadn't been introduced, assuming it was, "Minerva?"
"Hi, Winston!" Minerva waved and hugged him, unperturbed of the soldiers around them.
As Minerva pulled away the Doctor reached to shake hands with Churchill only for man to motion with his hand for the Doctor to drop something in it, "Ah, every time!" the Doctor laughed.
"What's he after?" Amy questioned in confusion.
"The key to the box of wonders, of course," Minerva shrugged, "Even after we've told him 'no' several times."
"Think of what I could achieve with the remarkable machine, Minerva!" Winston sighed, "The lives that could be saved!"
"Ah, doesn't work like that," the Doctor closed the TARDIS doors.
"Must I take it by force?"
"I'd like to see you try," Minerva scoffed playfully.
"At ease," Winston motioned and the soldiers lowered their rifles.
"So," Minerva curiously looked around the place, "you rang?"
~ 0 ~
The group strode the corridors with an ongoing air raid above them, Winston leading them to the roof to show off some new creation apparently.
"So you've changed your face, again," he remarked as he eyed the Doctor, sparing Minerva a glance as well, "The both of you."
"Regeneration, incomplete linkage," Minerva shrugged, "What can you do?"
"Got it, got it, got it!" Amy cheered from behind, "Cabinet War Rooms, right?"
"Yup," the Doctor looked back at the excited ginger, "Top secret heart of the War Office, right under London."
"You're late, by the way," Winston pointed out as a woman approached him with a clipboard and pen.
"Requisitions, sir," she said.
"Excellent."
"Late?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.
"I rang you a month ago," Winston sighed.
"Sorry, we probably would've gotten here earlier if my husband wasn't such an idiot."
"Oi, this was your fault," the Doctor was quick to point out.
"How so?" Amy curiously questioned.
"Yeah, Doctor, how so?" Minerva smirked, knowing he wouldn't say anything to the others about their incident. It wouldn't bode well for his reputation.
The Doctor simply frowned, "You're a blatant cheater," he declared and moved ahead.
All he had wanted to do was catch his Clever Girl and then have a nice little moment with her - while saving water of course. When she'd broken into the chase, he'd of course ran after her as quick as he could. However, Minerva had reached the bathroom first and managed to lock it, leaving him on the other side mirthlessly calling after her to let him in. He could hear Minerva's laughter from the other side which only frustrated him and yet spurred him to get into that bathroom. He'd even tried his screwdriver but somehow that clever wife of his had managed a deadlock with the TARDIS' help, leaving him on the other side with no possible way in. Minerva had showered on her own and after a couple of minutes later she'd emerged from the bathroom with a very wide, cheeky grin.
Oh, he'd be getting her back for that one.
An officer approached them after the woman with the clipboard had left, "Excuse me, sir, got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them."
"We shall go up top then, Group Captain! We'll give 'em what for!" Winston looked over at the silent alien, "Coming, Doctor?"
"Why?"
Winston snatched his cane from the Doctor, "I have something to show you," he moved on ahead towards a lift.
The Doctor looked back and mouthed 'Ooh' to the women, making Amy giggle and Minerva playfully roll her eyes. As Amy and her walked ahead of him, the Doctor snatched Minerva back by the waist, detaining themselves for just a moment in which he leaned down beside her ear and whispered, "I will get you back for that one, love."
Minerva smirked and looked up, "I'm counting on it, Martian," she patted his cheek, "Just like you're curious I'm curious to see what new gimmicks you have to coax me into your bidding."
"Challenge accepted my dear," he laughed and pulled her towards the lift by the hand.
The two entered the lift and squished into the small room, the Doctor not at all minding he had his wife right in front of him where he could wrap his arms around her and pull her even closer, for the sake of room of course...yup. Winston started the lift and puffed his cigar, letting a wave of smoke hit the others. Amy silently grimaced and stood in the back of the room, the Doctor waving away the smoke around him and Minerva.
"We stand at a crossroads, Doctor. Quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily," Winston sighed, "So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."
"Mm, that's not sounding so well," Minerva admitted, knowing just how desparate humans grew and their reachings.
The lift had stopped and Winston opened the gate for them, walking out first onto the rooftop, "Follow me."
"Wow!" Amy blinked and looked around the rooftop. There were sandbags all around with several employees lurking about. A man in a white coat standing on a raised platform was looking out at the sky with binoculars. He was the only one dressed differently.
"Doctor, Minerva, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides Project," Winston gestured to the man in the coat.
The Doctor held up his hand with a 'V' for victory as Bracewell waved at them, "How d'you do?" he greeted and looked back through his binoculars again.
The trio walked towards the edge of the roof to look over the city of London with its barrage balloons, its bombs dropping.
"Oh, Doctor... Doctor, it's..." Amy leaned just a slight bit closer as she took in the place.
"This is history in the makings," Minerva sadly watched.
"Ready, Bracewell?" Winston called.
"Aye-aye, sir," Bracewell gave a thumps-up, "On my order! Fire!"
Within the nearby sandbagged area, laser beams fired up to the sky and destroyed the Germans within the second. The Doctor and Minerva froze at the sound the beams made when they felt the familiarity.
"Oh but that can't be..." Minerva whispered, her heart racing as she configured the beams with the owners.
"That wasn't human, that was never human technology," the Doctor shook his head, "That sounded like... Show me!" he dashed towards the ladder leading up to Bracewell and climbed up, "Show me what that was!"
"Advance!" Bracewell ordered.
"Our new secret weapon!" Winston chuckled as a Dalek trundled out of the sandbagged area.
"Oh my god..." Minerva nearly stumbled back, horrified at the Dalek dressed in amry khaki with a utility belt around it and a small Union Flag under its eyestalk.
"What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Winston asked, grinning cluelessly at the 'Ironside'.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded, taking a step forwards.
"I am your soldier," the Dalek replied.
"What?"
"I am your soldier."
"Stop this. Stop now! You know who I am, you always know."
"Your identity is unknown."
"Perhaps I can clarify things here, this is one of my Ironsides," Bracewell moved over, confused from all the tension over simple creations.
"Your what?" Minerva left Amy's side and marched towards the platform, "This is your doing? Did you bring them here?"
"Minerva, stay back!" the Doctor tried to say but the woman raised a hand to stop him. There was a Dalek with them, acting as a good guy, and he wanted her to stay back? Absolutely not.
"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" Bracewell questioned the Dalek.
"Yes."
"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"
"Yes."
"And what is your ultimate aim?"
"To win the war!"
The Doctor looked away from the horrific sighed to his wife, both sharing confused and terrified looks. Daleks never turned good, they didn't know what the concept was. So what the hell were they planning?
~ 0 ~
Winston had laid out all of Bracewell's plans for the 'Ironside's/Daleks' on his desk for the Doctor look over, even Minerva sparing a few studies of her own.
"They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!" the Doctor insisted, Winston simply shaking his head in denial. He'd been telling Winston all about the Daleks along with Minerva's own background history with the aliens but none of it was convincing Winston.
"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look!" he pointed at the plans on the table, "Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He invented them!"
"He can't have," Minerva said, "because he's not their creator. Believe me, I've seen the creator and it wasn't the scientist you have here."
"Yes it was! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius."
"A Scottish genius, too," Amy called from behind, having been checking several things in the room, still confused what was so bad about those little machines from earlier, "Maybe you should listen to..."
"Be quiet!" Minerva snapped, leaving Amy to make an offended face. Had Minerva just yelled at her?
Minerva realized her mistake and looked back at the ginger, "Sorry," she sighed, "But those things...those things are awful. They're pure hell and..." she shook her head, her eyes watering as she thought of her parents, "...they killed my parents. Do you think I would forget what they looked like?"
Winston sighed and looked to the side, "Well..."
"No, the answer is no," she gritted her teeth, "These things you have are the things that I saw at home. They are alien and you have to believe us."
"Alien?" the man raised an eyebrow.
The Doctor stiffened when he heard that small, annoying noise he detested so much. He looked over his shoulder and saw a Dalek had stopped in the doorway and was looking at them for a moment before it trundled on, "And totally hostile!" he added.
"Precisely. They will win me the war!" Winston declared as he turned over a blueprint with a poster of a Dalek in British glory.
"No, you don't want them!" Minerva insisted, the man going around his desk and leading them out, "Please, just listen? Why won't you? I mean, you called us in for something and now you're just waving us off!"
"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true."
"Yes! Right! So destroy them!" the Doctor urged, "Exterminate them!"
"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!"
"They'll kill everything you know and love," Minerva crossed her arms, shuddering a breath.
"Amy, tell him," the Doctor tried another option.
Amy turned around, startled she'd been suddenly brought into the conversation, "Tell him what?"
"About the Daleks!"
"What would I know about the Daleks?" she shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Amy, they invaded the Earth, remember?" but Amy stared with a blank expression, "Planets in the sky? You don't just forget that!"
The Doctor studied the ginger for a good minute and saw in her eyes she really had no idea what they were talking about, "Amy...tell me you remember the Daleks."
Amy shook her head, "Nope, sorry."
"That's not possible," Minerva's mouth nearly fell open.
~ 0 ~
The trio were in the map room, Amy a bit bored since the Doctor wouldn't allow her nor Minerva to move away from him due to these 'daleks'. He was acting so overprotective while Minerva had a look of horror and darkness mixed in...and for what? For...daleks? What exactly were those anyways?
"What can they want now?" Minerva whispered to the Doctor, "What more can they want...? They've taken so much from both of us..."
"Not anymore," he wrapped his arms around her from behind, "I promise you."
"We have to stop them," Minerva nodded.
"So let's just start by asking what their big, bad evil plan is, yeah?" Amy snuck away from them rather fast and towards a Dalek.
"Amy!" the Doctor called, "Amelia!"
Amy simply gave a thumbs up without looking back. Minerva felt her heart nearly stop when Amy tapped the Dalek, "Martian, we have to stop her!" she moved forwards but the Doctor restrained her and kept her with him. He was not about to let her anywhere near them just because Amy decided to be disobedient.
"Can I be of assistance?' the Dalek had asked Amy.
"Oh. Yes. Yes! See, my friends reckon you're dangerous. That you're an alien. Is it true?"
"I am your soldier."
"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?"
"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform."
The Doctor let go of Minerva and stood in front of her, giving her his best serious look, "Do not leave this spot, understand?" she nodded silently and received a kiss on the head before he went towards Winston.
"Gosh, why are you acting so over-dramatic about this?" Amy returned to Minerva, nearly laughing at such seriousness, "They're like bottles of pepper."
"Amy, I have seen their cruelty countless times," Minerva crossed her arms, shifting a bit as she spoke her next words, "They killed my parents in front of me. They're responsible for the death of nearly half my people. They're nothing like bottles of pepper."
Amy really had nothing to say after that. Minerva had tears beginning to form inside her eyes, the eyes that bore the expression of heartbreak. It made Amy feel slightly guilty for taking this topic so casually. Amy didn't think Minerva would make something like that up just for the sake to agree with the Doctor. No, she had to be telling the truth. Amy looked back at a passing Dalek and frowned, perhaps she really should be taking this serious.
A couple minutes later, after the all-clear had been declared, the Doctor returned to their side, Minerva immediately retreating into his arms as she let a small sob.
~ 0 ~
The group stalked inside Bracewell's lab while the man worked on something at his desk, a couple technicians around with Daleks. They were determined to get Bracewell to confess of the Daleks' true plans against the humans.
"All right, Prof! The PM's been filling me in," the Doctor looked around the several inventions, half-finished, lying about, "Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them."
"Just doing my bit," Bracewell shrugged.
Amy picked up a spanner and casually eyed it, "Not bad for a Paisley boy."
"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear."
"I just wonder how you did this," Minerva plopped down on a chair, despite the casualty the group was going for she just couldn't do it, "Care to enlighten us?"
"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?" Bracewell glanced back at the woman, unperturbed with the little questionnaire going on.
"But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?" the Doctor questioned, standing beside Minerva's chair. He didn't trust the man one moment and he didn't want his wife anywhere near him.
"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like... let me show you," Bracewell picked up some files and held them out for them to see, "Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that could sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!"
"But are these you ideas...or theirs?" Minerva questioned.
"No, no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Miss Souza. They are..." Bracewell stopped as a Dalek brought him tea, "Thank you...the perfect servant, and the perfect warrior."
"You need to tell us what the Daleks are planning," Minerva warned, "because we will not allow them to hurt anyone."
"But there is no plan," Bracewell looked at her oddly, "Except to win the war, of course."
"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them!" the Doctor snapped, "Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!"
Winston had entered the room right about the time the Doctor had spoken, a Dalek gliding behind him, "Yes, Doctor. Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!"
"Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too!" Minerva called, no longer on good terms with the man. He was a good man, yes, but also slightly clueless.
"Would you care for some tea?" the Dalek that handed Bracewell tea had trundled to the Doctor.
The Doctor was more than irritated, if not infuriated with the little charade, and so slapped the tray the Dalek held to the floor, "Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"We seek only to help you."
"To do what, exactly?" Minerva stood and moved up.
"To win the war."
"Really? Which war?" the Doctor held an arm to bar Minerva from the Dalek.
"I do not understand."
"This war, against the Nazis? Or your war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life-forms that are not Dalek?"
"I do not understand. I am your soldier."
"Oh yeah?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Okay," he turned around and gently pushed Minerva back to Amy before grabbing a giant spanner, "OK, soldier, defend yourself!" and he started smacking the spanner on the Dalek.
"Doctor, what the devil...?!" Bracewell gasped, everyone stunned except Minerva.
"You do not require tea?" the Dalek could merely say as the Doctor continued using the spanner on it.
"Stop it!" Bracewell turned to the Winston for help, "Prime Minister, please!"
"Doctor, please, these machines are precious," Winston tried saying.
"Come on! Fight back!" the Doctor commanded, "You want to, don't you? You know you do!"
"I must protest!" Bracewell shouted.
"What are you waiting for? You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me. Kill me!"
"Doctor, be careful!" Amy tried reaching for him but Minerva yanked her back, "Minerva!
"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier," the Dalek measly said.
"No you're not," Minerva snapped back, "You are the enemy! Confess!"
The Doctor kept her back should the thing finally revert to its natural state, "You are my enemy!" he started striking it with each word he spoke, "And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!" he sent the Dalek back with a hard kick.
"Correct," the Dalek said after a moment of silence, "Review testimony."
The Dalek replayed some sort of recording with the Doctor's voice, "I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!"
Minerva finally moved up beside the Doctor again, "Testimony? What are you talking about, testimony?"
"Transmitting testimony now," the second Dalek said.
"Transmit what, where?" the Doctor demanded.
"Testimony accepted!"
"Get back! All of you!" the Doctor shooed Amy behind, making sure to stand in front of Minerva.
"Marines! Marines! Get in here!" Winston called and two marines ran into the room, though both were killed a mere two steps after they appeared.
"Stop it! Stop it, please! What are you doing?" Bracewell pleaded, "You are my Ironsides!"
"We are the Daleks!"
"But I created you!"
"No," a Dalek shot off Bracewell's hand to receive circuitry underneath his 'skin', "We created you!"
"Victory! Victory! Victory!" the Daleks chanted before disappearing.
"What just happened, Doctor?" Amy took a small step towards the pair, heavily shaken up.
"I wanted to know what they wanted, what their plan was," he breathed as the realization struck him, "I was their plan!" he bolted out of the room, Minerva quickly following and so Amy and Winston followed after.
~ 0 ~
The group entered the room where the TARDIS had been stored in, the Doctor speaking out loud as he thought, ""Testimony accepted!" That's what they said! My testimony."
"Testimony of what, though?" Minerva was right beside him, "Why would they need one? And from you?"
"Don't beat yourself up. You were right," Amy said from behind as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS, "What do we do? Is this what we do now? Chase after them?"
"This is what I do. It's dangerous, so wait here," he moved to enter the TARDIS when Minerva slipped in between him and the box.
"I lost my parents to them and I will not lose you to them next," were her final words before going inside.
The Doctor let it go and simply turned to Amy as Winston finally caught up, "You stay here."
"What, so you mean I've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the London Blitz?" she blinked, "That doesn't sound very fair."
"Look, it's as safe as it gets around me."
"But Minerva's going!"
"Because she's my wife. And what my wife wants she gets...unfortunately," he mumbled the last part before going inside.
"Well isn't that...lovely," Amy huffed and crossed her arms. Truthfully it really was, she thought. She wished she could have that.
~ 0 ~
"You should not be here," the Doctor called as he and Minerva worked the controls of the TARDIS.
"Wife and equals!" she mimicked his tone, flicking a switch as she looked up, dead serious, "I'm not losing anyone else."
The Doctor let nearly everything drop and made his way over to her, taking her into his arms for a hug, "Nothing is going to happen," he kissed her hair, understanding it was complicated letting her parents' death go.
A beep from the monitor broke the moment as the pair walked to the front of the screen, seeing the Dalek ship appears as a dot.
"Bingo," Minerva muttered.
~ 0 ~
Three Daleks watched their Progenitor device continue its programmed run on the ship, "The final phase commences, channel all reserve power to Progenitor," one of them instructed.
As the sound of the TARDIS materializing emerged, the three Daleks swiveled in time to see the Doctor and Minerva emerging from the box, the Doctor rubbing his hands together.
"How about that cuppa now, then?" the Doctor decided to open up lightly.
"It is the Doctor! Exterminate!"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Minerva cut in, doing her best not to let her voice shake as much as it wanted to.
The Doctor held out a round object, a cookie, and waved it at the Daleks, "My wife's right, you may want to listen up. This is a TARDIS self-destruct. And you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it."
"You would not use such a device," a Dalek said with so much assurance that made Minerva scoff.
"Try us," she snapped with a death glare.
She decided she wasn't afraid of Daleks, no. If anything, she was furious and wanted them all dead, just like the last time she'd faced them. They didn't deserve her fear, they deserved to die after everything they did.
One of the Daleks moved forwards and so the Doctor reacted with haste, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans! No nothing! One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang-bang, Daleks boom!" he smirked as the Dalek returned to its place, "Good boy," he straightened up and looked at Minerva, the woman giving a nod that she was fine. He took a small observance of the machines around them and noticed something awfully satisfactory, "This ship's pretty beaten up - running on empty, I'd say, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished."
"You should have stayed finished," Minerva muttered.
"One ship survived," a Dalek responded.
"And you fell back through time, yes? Crippled? Dying?" the Doctor guessed.
"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices."
"Progenitor?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.
"It is our past. And our future."
"Ohhh, that's deep. That is deep for a Dalek," the Doctor admitted with a slight shrug.
"But I think we'd rather know what it means, right dear?" Minerva gave him a look that said to focus.
"Oh, right, yes," he nodded.
"What is it?" she demanded from the Daleks.
"Who exactly is the female?"
"It's actually quite ironic you don't remember me," Minerva gave a small sigh, "Last time we met I broke right through your little buddies' shells. I am the princess of the Monsoon, the planet you oh so decided to scavenge for a crystal."
The Doctor felt uneasy with Minerva establishing her identity to Daleks. She already ran danger just by her relationship with him and now to say she was the owner of a deadly object that no longer exists, well...she might as well have said she was him and prepare for death. But to Minerva it was different, it wasn't to establish an identity, it was to establish that she, a Moontsay, had survived their attacks and was more than ready to fight again. She was tired of her and her people feeling like they were a weak, subspecies. She was the princess, the leader, the voice of a planet and if she wanted to be an actual good leader then she had to make everyone see that Moontsays were stronger and confident than before. They would be prepared to stand up and fight. But first, it started with her, right here, establishing a Moontsay's existence.
"Moontsays are extinct," a Dalek spoke up.
"We're alive," Minerva articulated the last word thoroughly.
"Still, a primitive species," another Dalek added.
The Doctor made a face and shook his head, "Not the smartest thing to say, fellas. Even for Daleks. It's best to just explain what that Progenitor is."
"It contains pure Dalek DNA, thousands were created, all were lost, save one."
"OK, but there's still one thing I don't get, though - if you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?"
"It was... necessary."
Minerva picked up on the hesitation and pondered on it, quickly putting the puzzle pieces together, "Oh I get it," she nudged the Doctor, "Don't you see, Martian? Their little machine wouldn't recognize them."
The Doctor let out a small, mocking laugh, "Oh, ho, this is rich! The Progenitor wouldn't recognize you, would it? It saw you as impure, the DNA is unrecognizable as Dalek.
"A solution was devised," one of the Daleks inputted.
"Yes, yes, yes. Me. My testimony," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "So you set a trap, you knew that the Progenitor would recognize me. The Daleks' greatest enemy! It would accept my word. My recognition of you."
"Hey! No!" Minerva shouted when she saw one of the Daleks turning to a machinery, "What are you doing?" she demanded as the Doctor waved the 'threatening' object.
"Withdraw now, Doctor, or the city dies in flames," a Dalek warned.
"Who are you kidding? This ship is a wreck, you don't have the power to destroy London," the Doctor scoffed.
"Watch as the humans destroy themselves."
The pair exchanged a nervous glanced, only hearing a sort of beam from the exterior of the ship.
"What was that? What did you do?" Minerva demanded.
"The humans are at war, let there be destruction," was the answer from the Daleks.
"The lights," the Doctor realized, "You turned on the lights of London."
"What? N-n-n-no! Turn those lights off now!" Minerva ordered, "Turn London off or I swear we will use the TARDIS self-destruct!"
"Stalemate, Moontsay," a Dalek shot, "Leave us, and return to Earth."
"Oh, that's it? That's your great victory? You just leave?" the Doctor cut in, the more the Daleks directed their selves to Minerva the better she'd be remembered and he most certainly did not want that to happen.
"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again."
"Self preservation," Minerva mumbled and shook her head, "You're not going anywhere! This time you lose."
One of the machines near the Daleks beeped with a thrumming emerging afterwards.
"We have succeeded - DNA reconstruction is complete," a Dalek announced.
The three Daleks glided back from the cubicle that was engulfed with red energy. The doors then slid open through the several sparks of the machine.
"Observe, Doctor, Moontsay, a new Dalek paradigm!"
The pair were horrified to see new, larger Daleks of different colors emerge from the doors.
"The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks! The resurrection of the master race!"
"That's not good," Minerva made a face, "Is there like a reverse button on that thing?"
"All hail the new Daleks! All hail the new Daleks!" the three older Daleks chanted.
"Yes, you are inferior!" the white Dalek spoke to them.
"Yes."
"Then prepare."
"We are ready!"
"Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!"
The new Daleks fired at the older ones, disintegrating them on the spot.
"Blimey," the Doctor blinked, "What do you do to the ones who mess up?"
"You are the Doctor!" the white Dalek then turned on the pair, "You must be exterminated!"
The Doctor waved the self-destruct object again, "Don't mess with us, sweetheart!"
"You've best stop and think," Minerva warned, "Either you turn off your clever machine or my husband will blow you and your new paradigm into eternity.
"Don't think we won't do it," the Doctor added.
"You'd perish along with your Moontsay," the white Dalek pointed out.
"Occupational hazard," Minerva shrugged.
"Scan reveals nothing!" the blue Dalek cried, "TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!"
"All right," the Doctor gave up and bit into the cookie, offering Minerva afterwards who shook her head, "It's a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea!"
"And I coffee!" Minerva nodded.
At the sound of a siren, the blue Dalek gored to a scanner, "Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching! Correction. Multiple projectiles!"
"What have the humans done?" the white Dalek demanded.
"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged and looked at Minerva, "How about you, love?"
"Nada," she shook her head.
"Explain! Explain! Explain!" the Daleks chanted.
Suddenly, a man's voice was hard over a radio in the ship, "Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."
"Oh, Winston! You beauty!" the Doctor laughed.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Come in. Over."
"Loud and clear, Danny Boy! Big dish, side of the ship, blow it up! Over!"
"Exterminate the Doctor and the Moontsay!" the white Dalek gave the order.
As soon as the Daleks fired, the Doctor grabbed Minerva by the hand and pulled her towards the TARDIS. Once inside, the two worked to get the box started in order to help the humans with their attacks. They could hear how most of the humans in space were being shot off, the ship protected with some kind of field making it difficult to bring the beam that had all lights in London down.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor... only me left now," came the pilot's voice after a couple minutes, "Anything you can do, sir? Over."
The Doctor picked up a small microphone to respond to the pilot, "The Doctor to Danny Boy... The Doctor to Danny Boy. I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over."
"Good show, Doctor, go to it. Over."
"Yeah you're going to have to teach me that," Minerva spoke up, a half smile on her face, "We haven't reached that lesson yet."
"Then allow me to start," the Doctor took a mock bow before moving beside her, winding an arm around her waist while the other worked on the controls.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor...going in for another attack," the pilot spoke minutes after.
"The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship! Over," the Doctor gave the order.
"What about you and your wife?"
"We'll be fine," Minerva had taken the microphone, "Just destroy that blasted ship to smithereens."
Suddenly, the white Dalek's image appeared on the monitor, "Doctor! Call off your attack!"
The Doctor scoffed, "Ah-ha, what? And let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!"
"Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth."
"We're no idiots," Minerva snapped, "You've shown all your cards, you're done for."
"Bracewell is a bomb."
The pair looked at each other, unsure of what to do next. The Doctor looked back at the monitor with a frown, "You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a bone in your body!"
"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum! Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."
"But we can't allow you to head off, no," Minerva scowled, "We can finally rid the Universe of you foul creatures."
"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"
"And if we let you go, you'll be stronger than ever," the Doctor mumbled, already seeing the possible exits of the deal being shut down, "A new race of Daleks."
"Then choose, Doctor, Moontsay: destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose! Choose! Choose!"
The monitor went black afterwards, leaving the pair to think about their options.
"Minerva I'm sorry," the Doctor sighed after a moment. He knew what this moment was to her, the chance to finally get the creatures who killed her parents out of the world.
Minerva shook her head, a faint smile on her lips as she looked at him, "A good princess looks after her people. The humans are most definitely my people as well. They're ours," she reached for her hand, "The choice is clear."
The Doctor slowly raised the microphone to his mouth, with deception he spoke into it, "The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw."
Sounding confused, as was expected, the pilot responded, "Say again, sir. Over."
"Withdraw! Return to Earth. Over and out."
"But sir...!"
"There's no time, you have to return to Earth now! Over!" the Doctor set the microphone down and looked at Minerva, she shooting him an encouraging look.
Together, they set the coordinates for Earth.
~ 0 ~
Back in the map room, the humans only had a brief glimpse of the Doctor dashing inside the room before he knocked Bracewell to the ground.
"Doctor!" Amy gasped in horror.
Minerva had caught up and entered the room, out of breath, "He's really very sorry about that, professor," she apologized for the Doctor while he shook his hand from the pain of his punch.
"Quite," the Doctor winced, "But you're a bomb! An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."
"What?" Bracewell lifted his head from the floor, his mind barely catching up to perceive what had happened.
"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you - a captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension!" the Doctor explained as he knelt down beside Bracewell and opened his shirt, his sonic out and used on the human man to open up his skin to reveal mechanics underneath the skin.
"Well you don't see that every day," Amy remarked, stunned, while trying to lean forwards to get a better view.
"This is sort of our life, Amy," Minerva sighed as she walked towards the Doctor.
"Nice kind of life," the ginger murmured, staring at the pair with slight jealousy.
Minerva knelt down beside the Doctor and looked at the circular pad on Bracewell's chest, the pad divided into sections that glowed blue with one turning yellow.
"What are we supposed to do?" she whispered to the Doctor.
"I dunno, I dunno, I dunno!" he shook his screwdriver in exasperation, " Never seen one up close before!"
"And let's hope we never see one again," Minerva shook her head.
"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy cautiously stepped towards them.
"Not wired him up! He is a bomb. Walking, talking," the Doctor made his imitation of an explosion sound with his arms stretched out, "Exploding! The moment that flashes red."
"They get the picture, Martian," Minerva raised an eyebrow, feeling like Bracewell was not liking the situation as it was and now had to deal with a man mimicking his possible death.
"There's... a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there?" Amy offered, looking between him and Minerva, "There's always a blue a red one."
"You're not helping!" the Doctor snapped.
"It's incredible. He talked to us about his memories," Winston remarked with disbelief, "The Great War..."
"Those were probably someone else's thoughts," Minerva explained, "They were implanted in his head..." she blinked as a thought hit her, "...and maybe that's the key!"
The Doctor caught on to her idea, actually seeing just a glimpse of it in her mind. He smiled for a moment while staring at her, that was her telepathy abilities growing. Sure, it probably grew about an inch (or maybe half of that) but to him it was just more progress. One day, he knew he would be able to hear his Clever Girl not only physically but inside his head too!
"Doctor?" Minerva tilted her head, misunderstanding the lack of haste he had to stop the 'bomb'.
"Right!" the Doctor blinked and looked at Bracewell, "Sorry, um, tell us about your life."
"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time!" the man shook his head.
"No, no, we're trying to help," Minerva assured him, "C'mon, Bracewell, tell us and prove that you're human."
"Um, well...my family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but...but there was a storm."
"And your parents? Come on! Tell us!" the Doctor hurried the man, seeing the section continued to glow yellow.
"Good people. Kind people. They... They died. Scarlet fever."
"What was that like? How did it feel?"
"Please..." Bracewell turned his head away, the pain too unbearable even if it wasn't his own pain.
"How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me! Tell me now!"
"It hurt. It hurts, Doctor, so badly. Like a wound," Bracewell explained as the second sectioned turn red while the third yellow, "It was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."
"Good. Remember it now, Edwin! The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad and losing them and men in the trenches you saw die... Remember it! Feel it, because you're human," the Doctor insisted, trying to ignore the third section as it went red, "You're not like them. You are not like the Daleks!"
"It hurts! Doctor, it hurts so much!"
"Good! Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it," but the fourth section was now red, "That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb, you're a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a human being!" the Doctor growled in frustration and looked up, " It's not working, I can't stop it!"
Minerva bit her lip as she thought, she out of all people should know what made a human human. She'd posed as one for seventeen years, grew up to be a young 'human' woman. And boy had she endured pain like no other, but that wasn't what had made her human, not even in the end after discovering who she was. What made her feel humane? What made her love to be a human?
"Minerva, anything?" the Doctor asked with hope.
Her eyes landed on him and after a moment a smile spread on her face, "I think so," she moved closer to Bracewell, "Oi, have you ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"
"W-what?" Bracewell blinked at her, even the Doctor confused as he stared at her.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Minerva continued, swallowing, "But a very good kind of hurt, one you wouldn't give up for the world. I'll talk about mine if you talk about yours."
"I really shouldn't talk about her," Bracewell mumbled quietly.
"Oh, there's a 'her'," Minerva looked at the Doctor with a playful smile.
The Doctor noticed the last section of the pad had reverted to blue and quickly jumped on the solution, "What was her name?"
"Dorabella," Bracewell answered.
"Dorabella? It's a lovely name, it's a beautiful name," Minerva remarked, "What was she like?"
"Oh... Such a smile. And her eyes... Her eyes were so blue...Almost violet," Bracewell looked up with an absent expression the more he got into the description, as if he was thinking of each detail with great care, "Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world... Dorabella..."
Suddenly, all the sections of the pad returned to their blue color.
"Welcome to the human race," Minerva whispered to him, helping him sit up.
"Clever, clever, clever wife!" the Doctor planted a kiss on her head as he jumped to his feet, "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!"
"Wait! Doctor!" Bracewell shouted before the alien could get out the room, "It's too late. Gone. They've gone."
The Doctor's face fell at the words, "No, no, no! They can't! They can't have got away from me again!"
"No, I can feel it, my mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."
Dejectedly, the Doctor leaned against a pole, his excitement gone. He'd failed again.
"Doctor, it's okay, you did it," Amy reminded, "You stopped the bomb. Doctor?"
"We had a choice. And they knew we'd choose the Earth. The Daleks have won. They beat us. They've won."
Minerva stood up and walked up to him with a small, content smile, "I don't know about you but saving this planet feels pretty good to me," she took his hands and leaned on him.
After looking at her for about a minute, the Doctor smiled back and pulled her against him for a hug, "It definitely feels good to me too," he kissed her forehead and looked at the others.
~ 0 ~
"So, what now, then?" Amy was following Winston around the room, having lost the pair momentarily.
"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond," Winston answered just as a woman handed him a communique, "Oh, thank you," he took a look at the document and raised his eyebrows, "They hit the Palace and St Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it."
"Is she okay?" Amy looked around him to a crying Breen.
"What?"
"She looks very upset," Amy nodded to the woman.
"Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the Channel."
"Amy, there you are!" Minerva entered the room with the Doctor, "Ready to go?"
Amy nodded, "Where've you two been?"
"Tying up loose ends," the Doctor waved her off, "I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in," he informed Winston, the man giving a defeated sigh.
"Won't you reconsider, Doctor?" perhaps it wasn't such a defeated sigh, "Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!"
"Can't have that," Minerva said as she was offered a tea cup. She crinkled her nose and passed it on to the Doctor who immediately took it.
"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?"
"Some times you have to go through very long wars, sometimes wars that aren't even yours," she sighed, "But in the end, there's a happy ending. My people are reforming their selves and building a community just like yours will too. Plus, they've got Winston Churchill at their sides, definitely a high plus."
"Won't you stay with us, then? Perhaps offer some advice between leaders?"
"I've got my own people to look after," Minerva said and looked at the Doctor who drank his tea rather absently, "And he's got loads to do in helping me."
"It's been a pleasure, as always," Winston gave another sigh, this time defeated. He gave Minerva a hug then the Doctor, "Goodbye, Minerva, Doctor."
"Oh, shall we say adieu?" the Doctor asked.
"Indeed," Winston looked at Amy, "Miss Pond."
"It's.. it's been amazing. Meeting you," the ginger smiled excitedly.
"I'm sure it has!"
Amy kissed his cheek and watched the man head for the door before calling, "Oi, Churchill!" she held her hand out, "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."
Minerva's eyes widened while the Doctor almost choked on his tea, frantically patting his pockets afterwards, "You're an idiot!" Minerva elbowed him.
"Oh, she's good," Winston said to the pair, "As sharp as a pin," he handed Amy the key, "Almost as sharp as me. KBO!"
Amy smirked and closed her hand holding the key until Minerva moved to her side and elbowed her in the ribs, "Ow," Amy frowned and looked at her.
"That's the companion's initiation," Minerva informed with a cheeky smile and held her hand out, "Key, now."
Glumly, Amy returned the key.
~ 0 ~
Bracewell stood in a rather stoic manner inside his office, thinking the end was coming for him. He didn't even have to look back to know the footsteps entering his office belonged to a certain trio.
"I've been expecting you," he sighed, slowly turning to face them, "I knew this moment had to come."
"Moment?" the Doctor asked, not quite catching the meaning.
"It's time to de-activate me."
"Is it, really?" Minerva blinked to the others.
"You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology," Bracewell continued, "Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business."
"No, you're dead right, Professor. 100% right," the Doctor shot a wink to Minerva, Bracewell too distracted in his thoughts to notice, "And by the time I get back here in... what, ten minutes?"
"More like 15," pitched in Amy.
"Fifteen minutes, yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do. You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been... activated."
"15 minutes?" Bracewell frowned.
"He really means 20, he's forever slow in this incarnation," Minerva crossed her arms.
"Oi," the Doctor shot her a scolding look.
"You didn't put up much of a chase, dear," she reminded with a hint of a smirk.
The Doctor was now frowning and turned away, "We'll see about that," he muttered before clearing his throat to speak to Bracewell again, "…we've got to see to. The... the... See?"
"Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here and prepare myself," Bracewell sighed.
"That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," Amy whispered to Minerva with a smirk and called to Bracewell, "That thing we've got to do. Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor?"
"Oh, easily," Minerva walked up to the oblivious man, "So no running off to some little Post office with the ash trees and certainly no girl named Dorabella," she smirked, "On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour."
Bracewell blinked with realization and immediately started laughing, "Oh, thank you! Thank you!"
Minerva laughed along and returned to the Doctor's side, "Shall we go home, dear?"
He wrapped an arm around her waist and nodded, "Oh, definitely," he started walking towards the exit, "Come along, Pond!" he gave a call, the ginger scurrying after them.
~ 0 ~
As the trio headed back to the TARDIS, Amy followed with a rather curious expression, "So, you two have like mortal enemies then?"
"Everyone's got enemies," Minerva shrugged casually.
"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell," Amy said, Minerva chuckling at it, ""You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies."
"No, those are just mine," the Doctor corrected with a grimace, "I just pull Minerva into the battle, unfortunately."
"Oi, there is no place I'd rather be," Minerva shot him a pointed look, "Standing right beside my husband, like it ought to be."
"Suppose so," the Doctor mumbled, earning a whack on the arm that made him genuinely smile.
"It's supposed to be."
Amy managed a half-smile when she looked away, "So it's not just you two running through time, being daft and fixing stuff then? It's being in danger and saving the world?"
"What's a date without adrenaline?" Minerva smirked at the Doctor.
"Nothing," the Doctor instantly answered.
"It's become like a tradition to us," Minerva said to Amy, "All our dates need to have some adrenaline in it or it's just not a date."
"Makes it fun," Amy said her thoughts aloud, wincing unnoticed by the pair. She shouldn't make it seem like she was jealous of that fact, she needed to hide it better. The Doctor and Minerva had been so nice to her ever since she entered the TARDIS and she shouldn't feel like that, she shouldn't...
"Well let's go, then," the Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS for them.
"You look worried," Amy remarked, hoping to change the topic and therefore distract herself from her bad thoughts.
"It's not that," Minerva said before the Doctor could, making the ginger turn to her with a confused expression, "Amy, do you realize you've forgotten them?"
"Who?"
"The Daleks," the Doctor answered quietly, "You didn't know them, Amy. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done. You should."
"I'm...sorry?" Amy blinked, looking between the two with guilt.
"Don't worry," Minerva put a hand on her arm, "We'll figure it out, now c'mon," she assured the guilty ginger with a soft smile.
~ 0 ~
"Yes, grandpa," Minerva was repeating and sighing when the Doctor entered their bedroom. She was sat on the bed, gently hitting her head against the bed headboard, "Yes, I'll be there on time, I promise. Aha, aha, okay, bye," she made a face at the phone and hung up.
"Something the matter?" the Doctor questioned in amusement while the woman smacked her head onto a pillow out of frustration.
"I have to go meet them," she murmured into the pillow.
The Doctor, unable to comprehend what she'd said, had to go and take the pillow from her, "You're going to have to repeat that, love," he smiled.
Minerva sighed, "It's time to go meet the royal family of Nix Terra," she rolled her eyes, "My grandfather wants me there ASAP."
"You don't have to meet them you know," the Doctor took a seat beside her.
"I do," she nodded, "If we get their support I can help lift up my home again. My people would be secure and they'd thrive in the markets."
"And what about their awfully kind princess, hm?"
"She'll be just happy when she sees her entire home uplifted again," she gave half of a smile, something that didn't go without notice by the Doctor.
"What a wonderful princess," the Doctor praised with a soft smile, "I'd follow her in a heartbeat."
"Don't you already?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yes," he scooted closer to her.
"My good kind of hurt," she reached for his jacket's lapels and pulled him to her.
"Oh you were talking about me," the man blinked with genuine surprise.
"Who else did you think? I've known you for centuries and yet I couldn't have you...but that didn't stop me from loving you," Minerva rolled her eyes, "You're such an idiot," she placed a kiss on his lips.
"But a hot idiot," he smirked.
"We'll talk," Minerva patted his shoulders and let him go.
"Oh no," he took her by the waist and pulled her against him, "You were quite mean to me earlier," he pouted while Minerva simply smirked.
"Was I?"
"You locked me out," the Doctor said in such a childish manner that Minerva had to laugh, "You hurt my feelings, Clever Girl."
Minerva impishly smiled as her hands moved around the Doctor's neck, "And what do I have to do to erase that little moment, hmm?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Well..." the Doctor looked to the side in his pretend thoughts, "...perhaps you could do something..."
"Then you just tell me," Minerva leaned forwards, her lips brushing over his, "And I'll see what I can do about it."
"You want to know?" the Doctor returned his gaze to the Clever Girl, "In all seriousness?"
"Mhm," Minerva nodded.
The Doctor let out a soft smile as his hand reached to caress her cheek, "I want to kiss you."
"I guess I can manage that..." Minerva innocently shrugged. The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes and leaned down to press a soft kiss on Minerva's lips. Minerva shuddered a breath after he'd pulled away, feeling dazed like no other, "Wow..." she lazily smiled.
"Perhaps I can't put up a good chase right now but I'm pretty sure that my kisses can make up for it?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, holding back his smirk until he couldn't anymore.
Minerva's hands dropped back to his lapels and before the Doctor could say anymore she had pulled him for more kisses, her plans to let him go not running through her mind once. Oh, she loved him, and she'd definitely show him that.
Author's Note:
Minerva is such a tease it makes me laugh xD. Definitely more flirty, don't you think? This episode wasn't one of my favorites so being able to write something fun in made it a lot more tolerable lol.
And just a little note, 'Next Stop Everywhere' the first installment for the Monsoon Seasons has gone past the 50,000 mark for reads! I'm so incredibly happy, thank you! For those who are still reading this current story I hope you stay along for the rest of the future stories and just maybe reach past 50,000 reads too! Love you guys!
For Reviews:
Absolutely no worries, promise! :). The mystery of Liz I continues I'm afraid! Don't worry, at the end of the story you'll find out what Minerva did during that sneaky trip to Liz 10! Just hang on! I will only answer with a "yes" to that question, Amy still tries to do it ;). I am currently on my last week of vacation and since I don't really go out during weekdays I have a lot to do (it's write and watch movies lol). So that's why I update more often :) Ah yes, the Moonie talk is back but the next chapter is an original one so I'm afraid River's chapter will be a little later!
-Yes! I am quite literally waiting for my sister to do the cover (b/c I completely suck in that area of crafts) so I can post the Klaus/OC story. My story with TVD/TO is actually quite interesting lol. I was actually in Mexico the first time I saw TVD and it just so happened to be during a scene with Klaus and his family (season 3 I believe). It was when Damon & Stefan (and Elijah) undagger his siblings during that one dinner. So when I saw Klaus I wasn't hearing his actual voice but I still loved him from there on. He was so amusingly sinister xD.
I'm fine lol and you? :). As I said previously, you'll know what Minerva did during that sneaky trip at the end of the story, I promise! You'll be seeing River soon too, just after this next chapter! Craig and Alfie? Yeah, that's an interesting chapter with some angst actually ;). The Roman and the Ice Princess! Ha, I never thought of that one xD. I like it!
So, next chapter is an original one. It's at the Monsoon and there's new OC. All I can say is...be prepared ;)